On Sunday the Boston Cannons lifted their second Major League Lacrosse trophy in franchise history after the 2020 Cannons defeated the Denver Outlaws 13-to-10. Getting to the championship game wasn’t exactly an easy endeavor for Boston. With just five regular-season games the Cannons went 3-2, the same record as two other teams.
A mere hours out of their semi-finals matchup with Denver the Cannons found out that both the Chesapeake Bayhawks and the Connecticut Hammerheads had forfeited due to positive COVID-19 tests. That forfeiture thrust the Cannons and Outlaws into a Championship matchup. Call the championship whatever you want but Boston was the better team on Sunday. Lifting the trophy was the culmination of years of effort by Head Coach Sean Quirk and company. Five years in the making to be exact.
Last season the Cannons finished with a 9-7 record and marched into the playoffs for the first time in Quirk’s tenure. A year later, they lift the MLL trophy. Quirk now has a 29-35 record with Boston. Quirk and the Cannons didn’t exactly play it safe heading into the 2020 season. During the off-season, they shook up the roster and made major trades.
Boston Cannons Offseason Moves Prove Fruitful
Out were names like Will Sands, P.T. Ricci, Connor O’Hara, James Burr, and a whole host of draft picks. Inbound the Cannons brought in Matt Gilray, Scott Corcoran, Bryan Cole, Randy Staats, and Byrce Wasserman. So just how good were these moves? Absolutely brilliant.
Player Position Games Goals Assists Points Ground Balls CTO Wasserman A 6 15 6 21 10 0 Staats A 5 3 10 13 5 0 Cole M 5 5 0 5 2 0 Gilray LSM 5 0 0 0 16 2 Corcoran LSM 6 2 0 2 20 4
Wasserman was the real MVP of the off-season. The former Dallas Rattlers star scored a team-high 15 goals and had six assists to go with it for a team-high 21points. His performance as enough to win the 2020 Major League Lacrosse MVP award.
At the end of the day the Cannons defeated the number one seed Outlaws to win the title and again posted improvement versus their previous season. While not playing in their home market is bittersweet the league and Boston with it did benefit from having all of the regular season matches on ESPN+ and then the Championship game on ESPN proper.
So what’s next? Read and react most likely. MLL debuted two newish teams in 2020 in the Philadelphia Barrage and Connecticut Hammerheads after yet another league structure. Now is the time to look at the analytics and see how those two franchises are faring as well as evaluating the other four franchises. When the league announced their most recent restructure in February they stated that the Charlotte Hounds would return to the league in 2021 following the completion of their new stadium. That would bring the league total to seven with another likely to be added or re-shuffled.
For now, the Cannons can revel in their glory and look towards the future where they will look to defend their new title.
